A storm of outrage arose over a Channel 13 News report published on Monday featuring an unprecedented visit to Mecca by an Israeli reporter, a violation of the strict ban on the entry of non-Muslims to Islam’s holiest city. Gil Tamari was one of the three Israeli reporters who gained entry to the kingdom to cover the GCC+3 summit, attended by US President Joe Biden over the weekend. While there, he decided to take advantage of his visit to venture into Mecca and document the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Tamari said on the video that he knew the chances of him entering Mecca were zero but he managed to find the right person who agreed to take the risk to sneak him in. [The identity of that man, who was unaware that Tamari was Israeli since they spoke only in English, was obscured on the video to ensure his safety.] The report was slammed by both Muslims and Jews, the former for the reporter’s violation of Islamic law and the latter for disrespecting the Islamic religion. Famed pro-Israel Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud posted a video excoriating the report, saying: “My dear friends in Israel: your reporter entered the city of Mecca which is holy to Islam and shamelessly videoed himself. This is like me entering a shul and reading in the Torah. Shame on you, Channel 13. You should be ashamed of your offense to the Islamic religion.” Many other Muslims have also been expressing their ire on social media under the Arabic hashtag #Jew_in_the_Haram, a reference to Mecca’s Grand Mosque. Many Israelis also slammed the report for its disrespect toward religion. Israeli-American conservative commentator Caroline Glick wrote: “In one unnecessary report, Gil Tamari inflicted unnecessary but tremendous damage on Israel’s relations with the Saudis.” In the wake of the storm, both Tamari and Channel 13 News issued apologies. Tamari wrote: “I would like to emphasize that the visit to Mecca was not intended to offend Muslims or anyone else. If anyone was offended by the video, I deeply apologize. The purpose of this entire endeavor was to showcase the importance of Mecca and the beauty of the religion, and in doing so foster more religious tolerance and inclusion.” “This founding principle also guided us in this journalistic endeavor and allowed many people to see, for the first time, a place that is so important to our Muslim brothers and sisters, and to human history. Once again, if anyone was hurt by or offended by this, I apologize wholeheartedly. We had no such intention.” Channel 13 was less apologetic, stating: “Tamari’s visit to Mecca is an important journalistic achievement, not in any way intended to hurt Muslims’ feelings. Of course, if anyone was offended, we apologize for that. Curiosity is the essence of journalism, which is based on accessing every location and documenting things firsthand.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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